ᴛʜᴇ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ꜱᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ

Sakshi stood in front of the wardrobe, quietly folding freshly washed clothes and placing them back in neat stacks. The room was silent except for the soft rustle of fabric.

Her eyes were still slightly red, but she had already wiped away the traces of her tears.

She had learned long ago how to hide them.

Small footsteps approached the bed behind her.

"Maa?"

Sakshi turned and saw Rutvik standing there, holding his little school diary in his hands.

He looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

"Maa… where is Baba?" he asked innocently. "Will he not come with us to my school?"

For a moment, Sakshi’s hands stopped moving.

The question felt heavier than it should have.

She forced a small smile and walked toward him. Sitting on the bed, she gently pulled him into her lap and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Your baba…" she began softly, her voice faltering for just a second.

"He is busy, beta. Too busy."

Rutvik nodded slowly, accepting the answer without question. His small arms wrapped around her neck as he rested his head against her shoulder.

Children often believed what they were told.

They didn’t know the truths adults hid behind simple words.

Sakshi closed her eyes for a brief moment, holding him closer.

Just a wall away, her husband sat with another woman, laughing and drinking as if his family didn’t exist.

But Rutvik didn’t know that.

He didn’t know that while he waited for his father to come to his school… his father was too busy being someone else’s company.

And Sakshi would never let that truth reach her son.

So she simply held him tighter, silently promising herself that even if the world failed him—

she wouldn’t.